Second Sunday after the Epiphany

The lessons this morning emphasize the calling of the first apostles, or witnesses, to Jesus' ministry and the gifts that the apostles and the early Church received from the Spirit -- gifts that would build the body and strengthen it to serve.

Unity and building up are the two characteristics of Christ's body that are held before us today.

The unity of the Church derives from our baptism. Each of us, in baptism, dies to the old life of sin and rises to new life in fellowship with Christ. There is no truer source of unity than our identification with Christ in baptism and our ongoing fellowship in communion with one another. Nearly everything else we try to add into the mix is about institutional politics and power, not about being one in the Lord.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit also work against politics and power, since they are clearly identified as building up the whole body, not just individuals within it.

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers -- all of us who exercise those gifts (and we all do exercise them in various ways) are to use them "to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ" (Eph. 4:12-13).

We need structures in our community to organize the various gifts and talents we possess, but the test of those structures is whether they serve to build up each member or to glorify just a few. And the building up is meant to equip all of the members to serve, not just to create a safe haven of like-minded people.

How do you help promote unity and build others up for service? What help do you still need that will build you up into the mature Christian you are called to be?